When the Titans hired Mike Vrabel to replace Mike Mularkey last January, the idea was that Vrabel would take the team to a new level — a plateau Mularkey couldn’t reach.

Strictly speaking, it didn’t happen in Year One, as the Titans finished with the same 9-7 mark that Mularkey’s teams finished with in 2016 and 2017.

One could certainly make the case there was a slight step back this year as well since the 2018 Titans came up short of earning a return trip to the postseason.

But the results of one season shouldn’t necessarily be taken as an end product as much as they should an indication of where things are headed.

In other words, it’s possible the Titans — even while holding steady as far as wins and losses — began to make the kind of changes that will elevate this team in years to come. The adjustment to a new head coach and two new coordinators, after all, isn’t always a simple one to...